Roy Greenslade And Press Hypocrisy

Rather a lot of those who scrabble around the dunghill that is Grubstreet have been taking an exceptionally righteous stance in response to the admission by former Mirror editor Roy Greenslade (who also served the Murdoch Sun and Sunday Times) that he had been a supporter of what was known as the Armed Struggle in Northern Ireland.

Roy Greenslade - views known for decades ...

... maybe he should have openly supported Brexit

The shocked tone belies the sure and certain knowledge that many of those mounting their high horses knew of Greenslade’s Republican sympathies all along. His views were well enough known for Nick Davies to include this passage in Flat Earth News, his go-to book on the machinations of the Fourth Estate: “Greenslade believed in the Irish Republican cause and occasionally wrote for the Sinn Féin paper An Phoblacht, but discreetly hid his work behind the pseudonym George King (i.e. the opposite of King George)”.

I never knew about his views. Or phone hacking

Moreover, back in 1990, when Greenslade became editor of the Mirror, Private Eye magazine was on his case, styling him “Roy Of The Provos”. That’s more than 30 years ago. Surprisingly, nobody else noticed, or at least that is the impression given.

Piers Morgan’s own righteous swipe at Greenslade caused The Great Man to trip up over his shoelaces, as he sneered “The Guardian’s been very vocal about media pundits recently, yet when its own media pundit for 30yrs, Roy Greenslade, reveals he was a secret IRA supporter the whole time & backed its murderous terrorism, they don’t say a word in today’s paper. As cowardly as Mr Greenslade”. But Greenslade was the paper’s media commentator only from 1992 to 2005. Research was never Morgan’s strong suit.

Cancel culture is something only lefties do, honestly

Nor was his ability to explain his paper’s own involvement with criminals: Alastair Campbell never did get a reply to “I've never ducked questions on Iraq. So why [are] you ducking qs re Jonathan Rees?”. Meanwhile, the repellant Andrew Pierce also tripped himself up. "Shouldn't Roy Greenslade lose his professorship over disclosure he was an unapologetic supporter of the IRA's bombing campaign”. Cancel culture, much? Also, he resigned it.

I am now standing in an extremely draughty glasshouse

And the deeply unpleasant former Sun editor Kelvin McFilth rather let himself go: “I always knew Roy Greenslade was a shit. I didn't know he was a pro violence IRA supporting shit. In the Sunday Times he reveals that while working for me at The Sun, editing the Mirror and being a media critic he backed IRA scum killing our people. A complete c***”.

Bozo kept a straight face, did he?

Hardly a surprise, as McFilth never listened to anyone else’s advice. But then someone really sold the pass, as Daily Mail political editor Jason Groves told “Boris Johnson joins criticism of Greenslade over his secret support for the IRA. No 10 says the PM 'outright condemns his comments, specifically those about the killing of civilians’”.

To which one Tweeter told Bozo “If you're upset about Roy Greenslade's support for the IRA, imagine how Colin Parry must have felt when you made Claire Fox a peer of the realm. Seriously. Just try and imagine THAT!” Former BBC man Gavin Esler mused “didn’t Boris Johnson give Claire Fox a position in the House of Lords, despite her past support for the IRA campaign? Is Greenslade’s mistake that he didn’t support Brexit?”.

Also, the likes of McFilth had no problem supporting killing, providing the IRA was on the receiving end (Gibraltar killings, anyone?). Anyone who wanted to know about Greenslade’s views knew years ago. This is so much righteous humbug.

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